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White Sox's Giolito beats the rain, Blue Jays

Lucas Giolito continues to show impressive growth.

After posting the highest ERA (6.13) in the majors last season while leading the American League with 90 walks, the Chicago White Sox's right-hander altered his mechanics and learned how to clear his mind over the winter.

Giolito has been the Sox's best starter this season, and he solidified that fact even more in Saturday's abbreviated outing against the Blue Jays.

With heavy rain falling at Guaranteed Rate Field in the top of the fifth inning, Giolito understood the situation.

"I'm out there, the rain's coming down, I'm like, 'This field's probably not going to be good to play in a few hours,'" he said. "Just going out there and just emptying the tank in the fifth, which is not something I would normally do."

Giolito made quick work of Toronto, striking out the side on 11 pitches in a driving rain.

That made it an official game, and play was finally halted after a 3-hour delay.

Not only did the White Sox beat the Jays 4-1, Giolito was credited with his first major-league complete game.

"Everyone was joking about that," Giolito said. "They were like, '(Beer) shower! Complete game!' I don't consider it a complete game until I get nine. But I went out there for the fifth, saw the rain coming down, and I was like, 'All right, we've got to pick up the tempo a little bit.'

"Luckily, we were able to get through five and close it out there."

The rain stopped a good 30 minutes before the game was called.

"It was going to take him (groundskeeper Roger Bossard) a while to get the field ready," manager Rick Renteria said. "And obviously, there was some more rain coming."

Nothing has been able to stop Giolito over his last three starts, all wins. The 24-year-old pitcher has allowed just 2 earned runs in 19.1 innings over the stretch.

"This was probably my first start this year I'd consider like a grinder," Giolito said after lowering his ERA to 3.35. "I didn't have my best stuff coming in. The first few innings, kind of grinding through, throwing lot of fastballs, off-speed stuff wasn't working great.

"But I was able to make pitches, get out of situations, stay under control. So I was happy with this one because I didn't have my best stuff in the beginning and I was able to get through it."

In the White Sox's first complete game since Chris Sale actually did go 9 innings against the Royals on Sept. 16, 2016 - a span of 382 games - Yonder Alonso sparked the offense with a pair of run-scoring singles.

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